by K. L. Wallen
Chapter 5
After what should have been an exhausting drive from California to the Eastern end of Arizona, Gabriella left Interstate 40 and followed the signs North to the Navajo Nation Capital. The closer she got to the reservation, the more energized she felt. The day was gloriously welcoming. The sun hadn’t yet risen to an uncomfortable position and Gabriella knew that time was but a few hours away.
Gabriella parked the car and leisurely ambled from one public area to another. She casually struck up conversations with employees, some discussions were rather bland and typical while the later few were more probing.
She wasn’t sure why Nayen wanted her here but she had her suspicions. Now she just needed it confirmed. Am I related to Nayen? If so, do I have other relatives here, specifically my unintentional sperm donor? she wondered.
*.*
“You have the Hashke gap. I am Councilman Nastas Zonnie.” The Navajo elder pointed to his own bottom teeth, which didn’t have any gaps. In fact, Gabriella noted that several of his bottom teeth overlapped. “I hear you’re looking for answers Ms. Powers.”
Gabriella ran her tongue through the gap on the bottom right side of her mouth, between her dogtooth and the outer edge of her front teeth. “Yes. So I get that from my father?” The councilman hadn’t said anything specific about relatives, but Gabriella felt it was a safe bet since Nayen sent her here. “It’s been problematic over the years. Thank you for taking the time to meet with me.” She held out her hand.
Councilperson Zonnie took her hand in his weathered one. “Bidziil often complained about getting food stuck in there. So did your grandfather. Walk with me and we’ll tell you about your family.”
“His name was Bidziil? My father?” Gabriella took hold of his now offered arm.
“My dear child, his name is Bidziil. Bidziil Hashke, and you have a right to know about him and your ancestry.” He led her in companionable silence to the house of their lead councilperson.
As they walked up the porch steps, Gabriella asked, “Are we related to Nayen? Sorry, that would be Nayenezgani.”
“Your grandfather often talked about the pair of them. Nayenezgani and his twin,” he stopped walking and he replied with a far off look as if watching a scene from the past roll out in front of him. Gabriella could relate and remained quiet. The councilman snapped back to the present and finished his thoughts, “Not so much with your father. Has Nayenezgani, or his twin, Tobadzistsini, visited you?”
Gabriella unintentionally let an inelegant snort escape. “Nayen. I’ve only seen his brother once and that was from a distance. Sorry. I’m not sure what Nayen does would be classified as a visit. He’s very demanding. I’ve seen his brother but haven’t spoken to him. He’s an excellent swimmer though.” She gently tightened her grip on his arm. “Have I been hallucinating or are they real?”
“Real to our people. More so for you, being a direct descendant.” He opened the screen door of the modest home and ushered her inside.
Gabriella spent the next several hours sitting in the living room, learning about her father and her Navajo heritage. She accepted the council’s offer to spend the night and stated that she needed to get back on the road first thing in the morning.
Conversation halted when a tribal officer opened the door. “Ms. Hashke?”
“How did you know?” Gabriella questioned. She didn’t correct the officer on his use of Hashke. In fact, she found that she didn’t mind using her father’s last name now that she knows what it is.
“Nothing remains quiet on the Rez’,” he replied with a smile. “I wanted to let you know that one of my officers has spotted a highway patrol car sitting just outside reservation land. Might he be looking for you?”
Gabriella guardedly replied, “He might.”
“In that case, I’ll meet you at first light and lead you out of here on a back path. The road is rough so it’ll be slow going, but I’ll see to it that you’re miles south of the officer. If the highway patrol man approaches before you leave, I’ll inform you. You are planning to stay the night, right?”
“Yes, I am and thank you. I’ll take you up on the offer.” Gabriella returned the smile of the attractive older Navajo officer. She noticed his wedding band was laced with Turquoise, similar to the unique ones each of the councilmembers wear. Gabriella wondered if all Navajo people styled their own wedding bands, and whether or not their wives bands matched their husbands. She decided that was a thought that could wait and faced the council members, who had grown in number. She shrugged, and simply stated, “Blame Nayen. He’s kept me busy.”
She explained the two visions Nayen gave her and concluded with, “The first vision left me reeling. It was so gory. Full of blood and death. I honestly thought I had gone insane. The second vision showed me his brother and led me here.” She picked up another cookie. “These are really good.” She took a bite and continued, “Anyhow, Nayen likes to give me tasks. They all have to do with children who are in need of rescuing.” Gabriella took another bite.
“Nayen always was partial to the children,” one member commented. “He protects you though?”
Gabriella picked up the concern in his voice. “Yes, Nayen protects me. Well, him and Clair.” She explained the second supernatural entity that has connections to her. “I don’t believe Clairmesine is Navajo. From what I’ve gathered, she is, rather was, a voodoo priestess who practiced white magic. I’m not sure how I came about having her in my life but she keeps me grounded. She also gives me missions but she is more patient.
With Nayen, well, I never know what he’s going to send after me to get me moving along faster. He had me dodging a hawk once. I swear that bird came at me as if he were going to remove my eyes with his talons. Another time, I had a rattlesnake chasing me down the street. Thankfully, it was early morning so no one was up and about. I’ve learned not to waste time arguing with him. It’s not in my best interest, if I want to avoid a possible painful injury. Nayen makes the decisions and I follow.” Gabriella inhaled deeply and released her breath slowly.
“Clair provides you with balance? Is your mother of Haitian descent?”
“No. My mother is Hispanic. As for Clair, that would be a good way to put it. She makes sure I don’t get stranded in the Land of Nayen when he gives me a vision,” Gabriella joked. The others laughed along with her. Mostly, Gabriella was glad that they weren’t calling for a straightjacket.
She settled down and commented, “I think, with Clair, it’s that we both love sea life. I spent a lot of time at the beach when I was a child, wishing I were a mermaid swimming among the sea life.” She shrugged her shoulders and accepted a fourth cookie.
“Was your home near the beach?”
Gabriella shook her head slightly. “Our small home was inland. About two miles from the beach. I use to ride my bike there every chance I got. There’s just something so peaceful about sitting on the beach watching and listening to the waves roll in and out.”
As Gabriella pulled down the covers later that evening, she wondered if it were the council members that needed straightjackets. This thought occurred after having spent the last hour plus, listening to tales of aliens from outer space, and how her father willingly went with the aliens to their planet, called Pzianian. Gabriella had many questions about her father’s goddaughter, Olivia.
The council assured Gabriella that her father, also known as Kodiak, never knew about her. “Had Bidziil known of you, he would have kept you with him. This you must know to be true.” In her heart, Gabriella did know that to be true. Still, she felt a pang of jealousy towards this other girl who grew up getting her father’s attention. One that he trained and obviously doted on, since her dad made sure Olivia was married here at the reservation and is now on this other planet with him, as if she were his own child. Or is it that he went with her to the other planet? Gabriella wished she could recall with clarity, all the stories told this evening. Instead she felt as if her head were spinning and about to fly
off her shoulders.
Not wanting to give into the urge to cry, Gabriella switched gears. “Maybe they do think I’m nuts and were just playing along in their own way, why else the aliens?” she reasoned. Gabriella dismissed that thought and the next one that crept into her mind. “Nope, not going to sneak out of here in the morning. I trust them.” She knew these thoughts originated from her own paranoia and not from Clair or Nayen.
*.*
Gabriella groaned when she saw headlights flashing behind her in the wee hours of the morning. She honestly couldn’t remember most of the drive home and figured she was on autopilot. The thought that she might see a ticket or two come in the mail crossed her mind.
Gabriella hadn’t been but five minutes inside of her own city when Detective Lance Crawford caught up with her. She pulled over and rolled down her window. Gabriella didn’t bother with her license and registration. This wasn’t that kind of stop. “Detective?” She resisted the urge to yawn.
“Ms. Powers. Welcome back. Did you have a pleasant mini-vacation?” Detective Lance Crawford asked. He leaned into her car and scanned the front and back seats. “Not out rescuing any more kids are you? Or are you out looking for greener grass?”
“What are you doing out this early? Never mind. I haven’t any idea what you’re talking about. Just came back into town, after, yes, a mini-vacation. As far as the grass goes, if I don’t like the grass I’m standing on, I’ll water it. So, why are you stopping me this time? Is your boss questioning your performance in her search for a suspect? Has a car like mine been spotted at another kidnapping?” She sweetly smiled up at him and batted her eyelashes.
Lance went quiet for a moment and simply studied her. “No. My performance is just fine. I’d be happy to demonstrate my performance, and endurance.” He cleared his throat. “Would you have dinner with me?”
Gabriella wasn’t sure how to respond at that moment. Yes, she found the detective attractive and often fantasized about him, especially after that brief but sexy kiss they shared; however, a relationship with him could be nothing but problems. She thought of Nayen and Clair.
“Gabriella?”
“Sorry. You took me by surprise.” She shifted in her seat. “That wouldn’t be a good idea, given our history. Have a good evening, detective.” She pressed the button to roll her window back up. The good-looking detective was definitely worthy of fantasyland, but nothing more. Gabriella knew he would always struggle between what is right and the demands of his job. She wasn’t willing to risk her freedom for the hopes that he would choose what is right.
*.*
Gabriella pulled into her garage and her senses sprang to life. Before the big garage door closed, she stepped on top of the broken kitchen door that led into her house, and cursed. “Nayen? Clair? What the hell happened?” She didn’t receive a response. She didn’t expect to. Although, it would have been nice.
On her way to view her video recordings, she stopped in the hallway and looked up. “Gotcha.” Gabriella retrieved a step stool and then returned to pull out the monitor that had been cleverly placed in the smoke detector. “Interesting. New technology?” She rolled it around in her hand on her way to the restroom. “Bye, oh, and I expect compensation for my broken kitchen door,” she remarked right before she flushed it down the toilet.
Her video recording showed nothing but static. Gabriella found this suspicious.
*.*
After a couple hours of rest, Gabriella drove to her mother’s house for breakfast before going into work. Instead of following her mother into the kitchen, she headed to the family room and removed a monitor that had been placed on top of the entertainment center, in the middle of a fake plant, as if the electronics of the television or stereo would prevent her from locating it.
“Seriously? This is not acceptable. My mother is off-limits. Do it again detective and I’ll file a complaint,” she uttered into the device. She circled back to the restroom and flushed this one as well. It hadn’t occurred to Gabriella that the device was not of Earth origin. She decided not to tell her mother about the monitor but would if another one showed up in her mom’s home. The thought that someone other than Detective Lance Crawford would have bugged her mother’s home didn’t occur to her.
Gabriella was uncertain whether to tell her mother what she learned about her father, then decided to go ahead. “Mom, don’t ask me how I knew to go to the Navajo Reservation…just accept that I knew to go. I learned about my father there. His name is Bidziil Hashke and he never would have left us had he known you were pregnant.” She told her mom one story after another that had been shared by the tribal elders, leaving out the discussion about him going with aliens to another planet. Gabriella was still having a difficult time with that one herself.
“So, where is your father now?” Isabel asked.
Gabriella could tell by her mother’s tone, that she remained hopeful. “They haven’t heard from him for some time.” She didn’t lie but she also didn’t tell her mom the entire story.
“Has he married?”
“No, Mom. According to the elders, he never married. He did have a close friend, from childhood, and became a godfather. Other than me, he never had any children that they know of. They know how to contact me when he shows back up. They had some pictures of him and his family. The tribal elders let me use my cellphone to snap pictures of the pictures. Here.” She brought up the gallery on her cellphone and passed it to her mom. Gabriella dipped her dry wheat toast into yolk that had run on her plate and took a bite. She decided her mom didn’t need to know that this goddaughter is nearly eight years older than herself.
“I need to get to work. I have to transfer the rest of my previous client’s files to Jeff, and I received a text that there’s a new client coming in later today or tomorrow. Some high-powered security company owner. I’ll call you tomorrow afternoon. Love ya.”
*.*
Blaize transported to the bridge and secured the monitoring device he had installed at Gabriella’s place of employment. He felt fortunate that she disposed of, rather than kept, the two devices she found. Admittedly, he was impressed that she knew about the equipment as soon as she was within range and quickly located the devices without hesitation.
Adal smiled at Blaize. “Do you have your story straight for your meeting with Ms. Powers or would you like to role play the meeting again?” She turned her attention back to her workstation when she spotted the flashing light. Adal typed in a command and announced, “Commander Gharm, Leader Thalmar is requesting an immediate conference.”
Commander Gharm told Warrior Adal Lucia to send the communique to the bridge conference room, then quickly entered the room and closed the door. When he reemerged several minutes later, he issued, “Adal, return to Oregon. We’re taking Dakota and her mother. Inform Favian to ready two translators and prepare for physical examinations. Let him know that one of the incoming honored guests is a youngling so he can make necessary adjustments. Then make arrangements with the Guardian. Have them send two pilots to take Christine and Dakota to the warship. Thalmar is sending his private warship and has ordered a CAP detail for their flight to Pzianian. The Intrepid will intercept their CAP detail as soon as they are within range.” CAP stands for Cloak and Protect, and is a procedure that is rarely initiated beyond escort for the leader of the Pzianian world. Disclosing CAP information warrants execution.
“Varun, postpone the meeting between Blaize and Gabriella.”
“Yes, Commander.”
“We’ll be in position over their residence shortly Commander,” Adal announced as she entered the new coordinates.
“Keep me apprised. I’ll be in my quarters putting through a transmission to the Co-Commander.” The Commander knew his Co-Commander would have questions beyond what Adal was able to answer, and Dorn felt a personal responsibility to keep his second-in-charge as much in the loop as possible.
Chapter 6
“I hoped you’d get here before my mom took us
away.” A smiling Dakota stood on the steps of her white-washed porch next to a tall urn style planter of overgrown red geraniums. She waved to the aliens to come up the stairs. “Come. Come on. It’s raining.” She let out a sigh and with a drawn-out huff declared, “Again.” She let out another huff to get her point across. “I’m so tired of all this rain. Wet, wet, wet. Every. Single. Day. Ugh.” Right after she blew a raspberry between her lips, she smiled again, and her whole face lit up.
Blaize turned his head up towards the clouds. “Is the weather this bleak often?”
“Almost every single day!” she said with a tone so filled with exasperation that Dorn and Blaize couldn’t help but laugh. “It’s not like this on your planet is it?”
Dorn looked into her melodramatic, shining face and replied, “Some parts are, but not where you’ll be going. The weather is warm and beautiful. We have two suns and three moons. One of our suns is a dwarf red sun, the other is yellow like your sun. Our planet is very beautiful. Dakota, I don’t want you to worry. You and your mother will never have to fear anyone again. Leader Thalmar will make sure of that, and I’ll make sure you both are safe until you are with him.” The Commander grinned when Dakota’s smile widened and became a prominent feature.
Dakota performed a celebratory dance. “Good! I can’t wait to see it! I knew my new dad would want us there. He doesn’t know it yet, but he’s going to love us. He’s really going to love my mom.” She reached down and moved her fingers as if scratching air. “Come on Kinoa.”
“Kinoa?” Dorn questioned.
“My dog. He’s a Siberian Husky.” Dakota held the door open so Kinoa could enter first. “Don’t worry, he doesn’t bite. Usually.”
Dorn and Blaize exchanged a look right before following Dakota and her ghost dog inside. They exchanged another look as they sidestepped a few extra-large empty boxes that had been taped at the bottom.